Grey sounds, vintage atmosphere, a little dust, pictures of old tramways, clubs filled with smoke, grey city life – such are the impressions that Rosi’s music evokes. The Bielefeld-based project was founded in 2014 by Sven Rosenkötter and saw him join forces with Mirco Rappsilber in 2015 on guitar, bass and synthesizer. Their sound lies somewhere between post-punk, dark indie and wave, and mixes influences such as Bauhaus, Joy Division and Tuxedomoon. Their approach is reduced, raw, and authentic.
The singles ‘Kaltes Land’ and ‘Tanzen’ herald the first full-length LP of the duo, ‘Grey City Life’: An album musically reflecting the metropolis’ colorless vibe, with guitar riffs pouring down like cold acid rain on the asphalt, vocals reminiscent of The Fall speaking of frozen laughter and lonely eyes, and bass pulsing with the steps on the streets of this sonic city. Distortions like nameless scars, the synths the fog, stark drums the march into the morrow.
Rosi unites danceable wave tunes like ‘Film’ or ‘Schwarzer Kaffee’ with introspective and minimal pieces such as ‘Verloren’ and yet remain true to themselves. Each sound represents the lyrical quality; each note translates an emotion into music. The heavy bass in ‘Graue Stadt’ merges with the guitar, their coalescence only deepening the inescapability of this ice age in song. ‘Jeder’ radiates a leaden heaviness, the melancholic guitars trying to grasp something in the distance – hope, an illusion, a daydream shattered by the vocals. Guest singer Joana extends a velvet veil on the nocturnal ballad ‘Schlaf’, the elegiac closing track, whose unexpected strings summon the night.
With ‘Grey City Life’ the two ‘brothers in spirit’ of Rosi have created a debut that’s dark and dirty like the soul-devouring metropolis. Ten tracks for silent screams, a sound that permeates the silence, and a color in something otherwise hopelessly grey.
